Did you ever ride the Parachute Jump? Did your grandparents visit Luna Park? Do you remember your first ride on the Cyclone? Do you march in the Mermaid Parade?
We want to hear your Coney Island story!

Whether people visited Coney Island on vacation or grew up near the beach and Boardwalk, they have powerful and often indelible memories of their experiences. Taken together, these impressions form a vivid record of Coney Island over the decades. To preserve this past, the Coney Island Voices oral history project is creating an archive of interviews with people of all generations and backgrounds.

The purpose of the oral history project is twofold: to record and preserve memories of Coney Island and to teach young people the techniques of oral history. Coney Island historian Charles Denson, author of Coney Island: Lost and Found, is the executive director.

During our History Days events, the first of which was held in 2005, the public was invited to record their personal memories and share their photographs and other memorabilia. Selected interviews and visual material are accessible at our online archive. Interviews are also conducted by appointment in person or by telephone. People who would like to be interviewed can sign up online.

This summer we will be conducting both in-person and recorded interviews, using our Video Interview Booth, in our new exhibition space under the world-famous Cyclone roller coaster. In-person interviews are by appointment only. Recorded interviews may be given any time during the exhibition space hours of operation.